Metro officials in Beijing are kicking off work on the city’s 27.7km long, US$1.46bn fifth mass transit underground line with an international call for construction tenders for the 16.9km long tunnel section.

The Beijing Mass Transit Railway Group Corporation said it had invited local and international contractors to register for tender documents by mid-August. The corporation, which was created by the Beijing municipal government to finance, design, build and operate the line, said it would shortlist contractors ready to invite tenders and start construction by the end of this year.

The scheme is likely to attract interest from French firm Bouygues and Germany’s Bilfinger Berger. The latter recently formed a JV with Beijing Construction Engineering (Group), to specifically target metro construction opportunities.

The client has already used a 6.2m diameter Herrenknecht EPBM on a 600m long pilot section of the line between Beixinqiao and Yonghegong to confirm future working conditions. When boring is in full swing, the same machine will tunnel five sections between Dongdan and Yonghegong through Quarternary clayey soil, containing sand, broken stone and silt, with a maximum particle size of 25mm. The tunnel will have a 5.2m i.d. with 1.2m wide, six piece segment ring lining.

The outfit has split the fifth metro line into 23 separate bid packages for the heavy civil engineering work including tunnelling and station construction.

The complete Line 5 will run between Songjiazhuang station in Fengtai district in the south of the city to Taipingzhuang North in Beijing’s northern Changping district. There will be a total of 22 stations, a rolling stock depot and an operations building.

SNC-Lavalin, the Canadian engineering firm, working in association with Beijing Capital Group and the Beijing Subway Company, prepared a feasibility study and business plan which forms the basis of the current project.

The fifth mass transit line is one of the railways included as part of Beijing’s ambitious plan to extend the length of commuter rail networks in the city from the existing 50km to more than 200km of mainly underground railway by 2008. Line 5’s completion is scheduled for 2007.

The city authorities are aiming to spend about US$11bn over the next six years to ensure this target can be met.



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